Ship Finance Buys Three Boxships
Ship Finance International Limited has acquired three 9,000 teu capacity container ships that are under construction from an unrelated third party.
The Fredriksen-led company said that the three vessels are currently being constructed to a fuel-efficient design at an undisclosed yard. Delivery is expected between the last quarter of this year and the first quarter 2016.
The boxships have similar technical specifications as our recently delivered 8,700 TEU container vessels, with the latest in eco-design features giving them a very competitive operational performance.
The vessels have been chartered out for a minimum period of five years to a leading European-based container line, with options to extend the charter period by up to two years.
"Our charter backlog will increase by approximately $200 million and the aggregate annual EBITDA contribution from the vessels is estimated to more than $30 million on average during the five year firm period of the charter. The Company will arrange financing for the vessels in due course," says a statement from the company.
Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of Ship Finance Management AS, said in a comment: "We are very pleased to further grow our presence in the containership segment with these state-of-the-art vessels, and at the same time expand our chartering counterparties with one of the leading container lines. Our charter backlog and long-term distribution capacity is building in an accretive manner, and there is still significant capacity for more investments without raising additional equity capital."
These will be the largest container ships Ship Finance owns and the acquisition will increase the number of container vessels in its fleet to 17. In addition, the company owns a large fleet of dry bulk carriers and oil tankers. It also has offshore services vessels and car carriers in its fleet.
